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Blog by Joel Fjordén a.k.a. Will o Wisp

Blog by Joel Fjordén a.k.a. Will o Wisp

Beta Version is Coming!!!

Monday, February 26, 2007, 07:34 AM - Code Style Enforcer

Now my new apartment is finally fully renovated and I have also managed to get myself and all my furnitures in. Therefore I thought it would be a great idea to celebrate with a Beta of the upcoming Code Style Enforcer version.

I will probably publish the beta release this week and rest assured, it has been tested quite alot, I'm using it myself at work. But of course there will be bugs, but I hope you can help me to find those, before the final release.

After this release, I will try to relese CSE more often, with minor upgrades, instead of a huge one like this is going to be.

Well, what can I say, my apartment is undergoing a total renovation and my work area is occupied by paint buckets etc. It is almost finised now, so hopefully I will be able to complete the last few things real soon. Trust me, it is coming!!!

I have been waiting for Developer Express to release their next version of DXCore and now that they have I will make the necessary updates before finally releasing the next version of Code Style Enforcer.

I thought at least that I could tell you what to expect from the new version, both when it comes to features and bug fixes.

Features• Code Style Enforcer now comes with an installer to make life so much easier.

• The different rules are now stored as XML files locally to each Visual Studio solution and are added as solution items, in a solution folder that is hidden by default. It is possible to have different rules for different solutions, but it is also possible to share rules between solutions, by linking in the XML files from a common folder. This makes it a lot easier for rules to be source controlled and shared. A windows forms application is also installed, which lets you configure the global default rules that are later copied to new solutions.

• Name rules are no longer configured through regular expressions, but instead with prefix, casing and valid characters. Hungarian notation is not there yet, but will make it into another version.

• Name violations can automatically be refactored to valid names, through a context menu.

• Visibility violations can automatically be refactored to valid visibilities, through a context menu.

• Possible to override violations, by adding an attribute "CSEIgnoreRule" to targets. Why is this a good idea? Well sometimes you simply must have a class called "UTF8", for example, even though numbers are not valid. Then it is nice to be able to add this attribute as an override, which tells Code Style Enforcer that it is a deliberate violation. The attribute also takes a string parameter where one must specify a reason for deliberately violating a rule. This makes it very easy for other project member and yourself to see and remember why the code style had to be broken in that particular case. Another scenario is when always demanding explicit interface implementations, which is not always possible when it comes to data binding or serialization. Therefore it is very nice to be able to clearly specify why a rule had to be violated.

• Visibility is now also checked on classes, structures and interfaces.

So what is left to do before releasing this new version? Well not that much really, some heavy testing, but most importantly we have to make the refactoring to name rules stable and hook it up to the standard refactoring mechanism. So look back soon and hopefully the next version will be available.

When now being back in the cold north, after having attended Tech-Ed Europe in Barcelona, I will hopefully have some more time for Code Style Enforcer. December is a very busy month for me though, since I have just bought a new flat that requires a total makeover.

I am still waiting for the next release of DXCore, since some new features are needed there. After that I will either make a beta release of the plug-in first, or a final release if it feels complete enough.

I have a lot of new ideas for Code Style Enforcer, which probably will not make it into the upcoming release, but hopefully the one after that. I will tell you more about these ideas in an upcoming post.

On Saturday I am heading down to Barcelona for some vacation, but mainly for the Tech-Ed Developers Conference. I am really looking forward to attend some mind-blowing sessions, who knows maybe I will see some of you there...

When I get back in about two weeks from now, I hope there will be a new version of DXCore available, so that we can get the last few things in to the upcoming version of Code Style Enforcer.